Educational appliance.



H; SOLTOFT.

EDUCATIONAL APPLIANCE.

MPLICA'HON FILED APR-9,1917.

A Patented om; 23, 1917.`

Fed reew Ora g MQW/w@ @zwi fran srnrne earners? creeren nnivninrrnsnrorr, on CLEVELAND, onto.

EDUCATIONAL APPLIANCE.

l Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 9, 1917. Serial N o. 160,62.

To all whom t may concern: j

Be it known that I, HnNRm'rrn SLToFr, a subject of the King of Denmark,at present residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State ofOhio, have invented a certain new and useful-Improvement in EducationalAppliances, of which the following is av full, clear, and eXactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings..

This invention relates to an educational appliance or device forteaching children the value and use of numbers.

The invention is founded upon the Well established fact that one of theearliest mentalV faculties developed in a child is that of comparison.rEhe fundamental object of the invention, therefore, is to provide anappliance through which Vthis faculty is utilized for the purpose ofteaching children vthe value of numbers.

Further objects are to provide a device or appliance through which thechild may be taught the value of certain combinations of digits ofdifferent orders.; andl to further convey to the childs mind, in acomprehensive yet simple manner, the principle of addition.

A still further and more limited object is to embody the invention in asimple, economical and convenient form that is well adapted to the useof small children.

More generally, the invention may be said to consist of the combinationsof elements set forth in the annexed claims and illustrated in theaccompanying drawing wherein Figure l represents a collectionof elementsconstituting an embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspectiveview of certain of the elements shown in Fig. 11; and Figs. 3 and 4 aresimilar views of modified forms.

The general scheme is to provide a series of cards or members, eachvbearing a number, and to associate with each card vor -Y member objectscorresponding in number to the number on the card or member, and toprovide each card or member and the objects associated therewith with alike mark of identilication, so that a child having the cards or membersand the objects before him, may sort out the objects bearing like marksof identification, and may select the card or member having thecorresponding feature of identification, and by comparing the two hasimpressed upon his represents the number of objects which comprises thegroup associated with that card.

color. rlhe colors are conventionallyrepresented in theV drawings andfor convenience the nameof the color which constitutes the mark ofidentification of each is placed above such group., Y

f may also print or inscribe the name of the number upon the card,preferably upon its reverse side so that as lthe child proratentea oct.es, fait.

.mind the fact that the number on the card sponding card'or member areof the same Vgroup of objects and its corresponding .card

gresses he maylearn, as well as the numeral v the word representingthenumber.y

Now, for the purpose of teaching the child addition, l join together andplace upon certain of the cards or members the marks ,of identificationborne by the cards or members having respective numbers combining toproduce the number appearing upon the` card ormember so marked.

For instance, upon the 5 card is inscribed a mark displaying the colorsgreen and Y yellow, indicating that all of the green objects and all ofthe 'yellow' objects make up a group comprising the same number ofobjects as those constituting the group associated with the 5 card. l Itwill be seen that objects are associate only with the. cards bearingrespectively the numerals .1" to 10, and that the inscription upon eachcard is, of course, of a color which differs-from the rest.y Observe thecardbearing the number 11. lt ywill be -seen that the digit of the tensorder corresponds in color to the number on the 10 card, and that thedigit of the units order is of a color corresponding to that on the 1card, meaning that the objects in the groups associated with therespective cards combine to make up a group of eleven. This idea followson vup through the teens, and so on.

Vlhile, at the present time, I prefer to use cards and possibly woodensticks as the elements of the appliance, any suitable equivalents ofthese may be employed as, for instance hard rubber Vchips for either 0rboth the members l and the objects Q or the objects may be pasteboarddisks or the like, as shown in Fig. 3. in some cases it migbt be foundadvantageous to connect the objects 01"' each group together so as toavoid loss or undue separation of the objects of the group and therebycreate a doubt in the cliilds mind as to tbe value or a number. Such amodication is iliustrated in Fig. 4e Where the objects constitute beads3 that are threaded upon .a string ei, knotted at the ends, as sho-Wn at5, to hold the beads upon the strings.

While ll have stated that the objects, and

the numerals or inscriptions upon the cards possess colors oiidcntieation, it is clear that other means of recognition may besubstituted Without departing from the invention, as for example thecards themselves may be ot various colors, While the printing on all isvof tbe same color. lin such a Case, each card above l0 would. have tobear a combination of colors in order to identify the digits. rElieforegoing slight departure from the present showing is so obvious thatspecific illustration is deemed unnecessary.

Having thus described my in'wention, what I claim is:

l. in educational appliance consisting of a series of members eachbearing an individual number, objects associated with each member andcorresponding in number to the number on the member, each member and itsassociated objects bearing like marks oi' identiication. c

2; rin educational appliance consisting of series of' members eachbearing an individual number, objects of like color associated with eachmember and corresponding in number to the number on the member, eachmember also bearing the color oi' its associated objects.

fin educational appliance consisting of a series of members each bearingan individual number and the name or such number, objects associatedwith each member and corresponding in number to the number on themember, each member and its associated objects having like marks ofidentiiication.

il. in educational appliance consisting of a series of members eachbearing an individ- Gopes of this patent may be obtained for naanooo ualnumber, the numbers progressing 'from l upward of 10, objects associatedWith each member from l to l0 and corresponding in number to the numberon the member, the inscription on each member having a distinguishingquality oi which the objects associated with that member are possessed,the numbers on the members above l0 comprising a tens digit having thesame distinguishing quality as the inscription of the 10 member and aunits digit having the same distinguishing quality as tbe inscription onthe card bearing the number corresponding to `that digit.

5. Ain educational appliance consisting of a series of members eachbearing an individual number, the numbers progressing from l upward of10, objects associated with each member from l77 to l0 and.corresponding in number tothe number on the member, each memberA and itsassociated objects bearing like marks of identification, the numbers onthe members above l0 iaving the digits of the respective orderskpossessed ot a mark ot identification corresponding to the mark of themember carrying the number corresponding to that digit.

6. educational appliance consisting of a series oi". members eacbbearing an individ-- ual number, a. number of objects connected togetherand associate-d with each member and corresponding 1n. number to thenumber on the member, each member and its associated objects bearing!like marks of.

identification.

7. ein educational appliance consisting of a series of members eachbearing an individual number, objects associated with each member andcorresponding in number to the number on the member, each member and itsassociated objects having` distinguishing qualities, and certain ot themembers carrying each an-indication comprising a combination of thedistinguishing quali ties oi" the members bearing jointly numbersaggregating the value of the member carrying suoli indication. i

in testimony whereof, l: hereunto my sigifiaturee nnumnrrn somo-rr fivecents each, by addressing the Gommissioner or Patents, Washington, b.

